Staten Island first stop for bus touting mayoral control of schools

Shawn Johnson signs the mayoral-control bus with his daughter, Octavia, outside First Central Baptist Church in Stapleton this morning.

Staten Island was the first stop today on a five-borough, two-day cheerleading tour designed to show support for renewing mayoral control of the city's schools.

A bus filled with members of Learn NY -- a grass-roots coalition of 78 educational programs, community-based organizations and faith-based institutions -- rolled into the parking lot of Stapleton's First Central Baptist Church, where parents, pastors and community members gathered to rally around the cause.

"For decades, the mayor didn't have the power to fix the schools because he didn't have the authority over the Department of Education. Every decision was mired in bureaucracy and red tape," said the Rev. Demetrius Carolina of Stapleton First Central Baptist Church.

"We have made real progress and we cannot afford to go back," said the Rev. Carolina.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg was awarded control of the foundering school system in 2002, and devoted much of his two terms to effecting a turnaround. The mayor is seeking a third term.

The deadline for state legislators to decide whether to keep the mayor at the helm of the nation's largest school system is June 30. It remains unclear whether lawmakers will reach a deal by that time.

Some alternate plans are being discussed in Albany that would keep the mayor holding the reins of the city Department of Education but would require more financial transparency and increased opportunities for parent involvement.

Staten Island's state lawmakers have expressed support for continued mayoral control of the schools -- with caveats.

State Sen. Diane Savino (D-North Shore/Brooklyn) has said she would like to see more oversight and parental involvement, including, potentially, the establishment of local hearing offices where parents could have their complaints heard.

State Sen. Andrew Lanza (R-South Shore) is one of several Republican senators who remain reluctant to give a swift green light to the proposal to keep the mayor in charge.

Lanza has said he would approve the measure only if there were a provision for reinstating Community School District superintendents -- a legacy of the previous power structure that granted more autonomy to Staten Island's District 31 but also came with fewer checks on local favoritism, cronyism and potentially wayward decisions.

"Our kids are our future and mayoral control makes a difference for them," said Brenda Wells, a member of First Central Baptist Church, whose son attended Laurie Intermediate School, New Springville. "We can't go backwards. We need mayoral control to continue."

The five-borough bus tour left Staten Island for Jamaica, Queens; Co-Op City, Bronx; Flushing, Queens; Canarsie, Brooklyn; East New York, Brooklyn, and Washington Heights, Manhattan. At each stop, parents and community leaders were to speak about the reasons they support mayoral control of schools.

The tour is slated to culminate tomorrow night with a rally at the Harlem Children's Zone.